Open-end ratchet wrench



- Aug. 21, 1951 A w V 2,565,154

OPEN END RATCHET WRENCH Filed Sept. 20, 1948 2 Sheet-Sheet 1 ALBERT EWEDV/K :Slwcutor KIM- asp.

Aug. 21, 1951 A. F. WEDVIK 2,565,154

OPEN END RATCHET WRENCH Filed Sept. 20, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ALBERT E'Wav /K mwutor Patented Aug. 21, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEOPEN-END RATCHET WRENCH Albert F. Wedvik, Everett, Wash.

Application September 20, 1948, Serial No. 50,220

1 Claim.

This invention relates to open-end wrenches, and its principal object isto provide a wrench of this character which admits of a ratchetingaction and hence, in order to impart multiple turns to a gripped object,need be itself operated reciprocally-through only a partial turn. Theinvention lends itself equally Well to the type of open-endwrench havingeither a fixed oran adjustable jaw span. As further and general objects,the invention aims to provide a ratcheting implement which will besimple, strong and easily manipulated, and which will reliably performthe work for which it is intended.

The invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptationand combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view portraying an end wrench of theadjustable type constructed in accordance with the preferred teachingsof the present invention, and with the parts shown in the positionswhich they occupy when the wrench is being turned in the working strokeof its reciprocal ratcheting movement.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view partly in plan and partly in section andshowing the wrench as being moved in the return stroke of its reciprocalratcheting action, the scale here used being enlarged from that of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view looking at the end of the wrench from avantage point indicated at 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section taken to a yetlarger scale on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating an end wrench of thenon-adjustable type embodying the ratcheting feature of the presentinvention. Referring to said drawings, the numeral 1 designates thestock or handle part of a wrench having at its outer end a head 8 fromwhich a leg 9 projects outwardly and serves as one of the two jaws ofthe wrench.

In a manner common to adjustable end wrenches, the body proper of thehead presents a flat slide-face l extending approximately at rightangles to the face ll of the jaw 9, and drilled through the headparallel with this slide-face is a hole l2 in which is received a rackmember I3 adjustably positioned by a worm I4. A rib I integral with therack projects outwardly to the slide-face through a slot (6 in the head,and

integrated in turn with the rib is a thickened block ll which rides byits bottom shoulders upon the slide-face. This block is itself providedwith a flat slide-face 20, the plane of which diverges outwardlyrelative to the plane occupied by the jaw-face ll. Said block is drilledand slotted, as at 22' and 23, much in the same manner as the headexcepting that the drilling is interrupted short of the inner end limitof the block to leave a stop-wall 24.

The other jaw of the wrench, and which I denote by 25, is arranged toseat upon the slideface 26, and there is provided at the inner end ofthis jaw a tongue dependency 26 finding a sliding fit within thedrill-hole 22. Such tongue is subjected to the pressure of a spring 21for yieldingly urging the same into bearing engagement with thestop-wall 24, the other end of the spring bearing against a removablescrew 28.

The gripping face 30 of the jaw 25 desirably has a very slight inwarddivergence relative to the gripping face H of the other jaw 9, and alsois preferably provided at the inner end limit with a projecting lip 3 I.

Proceeding now to a description of the nonadjustable wrench illustratedin Fig. 6, substantially the only departure from the previouslydescribed wrench is that the block member I1 is built into the head andbecomes a solid part of the latter. The sliding jaw, here denoted 32, isor may be identical both in point of construction and mounting with thesliding jaw 25.

It is thought that the manner in which the tool operates will beapparent from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 2. Assuming that the worm hasbeen turned in the degree necessary to draw the movable jaw 25 into firmengagement with an object such as the indicated nut N, a swing of thewrench in the clockwise direction indicated by the arrow of Fig. 1 willoperate to move the nut in a corresponding direction, or which is to saysuch as to tighten the nut if the threads are righthand. Now, uponreversing the direction of swing as indicated by the arrow of Fig. 2,the movable jaw will move outwardly along its slide against the yieldingresistance of the spring 21, progressively enlarging the jaw spreaduntil the two jaws will slip over diametrically opposite points of thenut. The spring then asserts its compression load to return the movablejaw inwardly along its slide into a working position whereat oppositeflats of the nut are again gripped by the opposing jaw-faces. I find itdesirable, as a means of facilitating the ratcheting action, that theface of the jaw ll be cut back at the outer end. The

advantage of this cut-back which gives to the inner face of the fixedjaw an obtuse angular shape in profile, is that it permits the flat ofthe nut which was previously engaged by the gripping face I I to rollover the crest defined between said angular faces, giving relief to thepoint of the nut and consequently requiring only a negligible reciprocaltravel of the jaw 25 in order that the two jaws may be freed from onediametrically opposite pair of flats on the nut and take a new purchaseupon a following pair of said flats. Without the relief face the jaw 25does, in fact, evidence a noticeable tendency to bind.

The invention, and the manner of its usage, is believed to be clear fromthe foregoing. Minor changes in the details of construction can beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it isaccordingly my intention that the hereto annexed claim be construed withthe broadest interpretation which the employed language permits.

What I claim is:

A wrench for use with polygonal nuts comprising a handle having upon itsouter end a head of furcate form characterized in that the inner opposedfaces of the two fork arms diverge outwardly, one of said fork armsserving as a fixed jaw and the other being bored longitudinally on anaxis paralleling its said inner face and having a slot of less widththan the bore connecting the face with the bore, a slidable block ofwedge shape serving as a jaw complement of said fixed jaw and slidablymounted on said bored fork arm, said block presenting a tonguedependency extending through said slot and fitting the bore, ascrew-plug removably received in the outer end of the bore, acompression spring hearing at one end upon the screw-plug and by theother end upon the tongue for yieldingly urging the block inwardly, theinner face of the fixed jaw having an obtuse angular shape with theinner arm of said angle defining a face for gripping a flat of the nutand the outer arm of said angle defining a relief face, said relief facepromoting ease of ratcheting by accommodating a point of the nut as thewrench is moved relative to the nut to free itself from one pair andtake a purchase upon a following pair of the nuts diametrically oppositefaces, the wedge shape of the block being such that the inner facethereof lies in approximate parallelism with the gripping face of thefixed jaw, and an upstanding lip presented at the inner end of theblock's inner face and arranged in the working swing of the Wrench toestablish a shoulder purchase upon the nut.

ALBERT F. WEDV'IK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the

